ryethenovel 46. Meeting the mother-in-law
46. Meeting the mother-in-law
The last time Li Xiang came to Vladivostok, he didn't even get to see Elena in person. This time, he finally got to see her in person.
He had assumed that his future mother-in-law would be around the same age as Dalia, but she looked to be only in her early twenties, in the prime of her life.
Elena met with Dalia first, and the two seemed to have reached an agreement on the eel business.
"Dinner will be served in an hour. Now that you have time, share your thoughts."
"Do you watch Japanese or Korean dramas?" Li Xiang opened his laptop and played a Japanese drama video, "My Boss, My Hero".
"I don't watch much. I usually watch American TV shows," Elena replied.
Li Xiang introduced, "The second female lead in this drama, Shinmoto Yui, is an artist from my company."
Elena guessed, "Are you trying to launder money through film projects?"
"Keep reading patiently," Li Xiang said, keeping everyone in suspense.
About four minutes later, they started filming GG. The spokesperson was Shin Won, and the product was U-Love-Me lip gloss. GG was filmed by LesPros Entertainment in Japan.
Li Xiang owns 4.5% of LesPros, making him one of the owners.
After GG, the video played for about six more minutes before Li Xiang pressed the pause button.
"Have you noticed anything wrong?" Li Xiang asked.
"No." Elena shook her head, not knowing what Li Xiang was trying to hide.
"The middle part, GG, is fake. It was never broadcast on Japanese TV. I filmed it myself and inserted it."
Li Xiang took out the U-Love-Me gift package he had prepared in advance and placed the items on the table one by one. "These are all products from my company."
"Ridao brand, Ridao products."
"Consumers in Russia have a very good impression of the Sun Island brand, as it is perceived as high-end, natural, and safe, but they don't know much about the actual brand."
"Imagine you're a fan of Japanese dramas, and you see this scene where someone makes a scene, and the actor is a famous Japanese actor you can name, like Himawari Akito. What would your instinctive reaction be?"
Li Xiang didn't give Elena time to think and gave her the answer directly: "If a brand can afford to hire celebrities to endorse their products, it must sell well in Japan. It's been tested by the market."
At this point, Li Xiang opened the WeTV webpage.
"Since you watch American TV shows, you should know that KinoZal has changed its name to WeTV, right?"
"I don't use BitTorrent search websites, I watch everything online on Rubo." The atmosphere instantly became awkward, but Elena chuckled, "Go on."
Li Xiang cleared his throat and continued, "WeTV has 150 million active pirate users in the Russian-speaking region, and I have control of the website."
"This is just a small television station. Television stations have to pay copyright fees to import dramas, but I don't need to."
Elena followed Li Xiang's train of thought and said, "You're trying to use the traffic from pirated videos to sell cosmetics?"
"Do you think you can make money?" Li Xiang observed Elena's expression.
"Theoretically, it should work; we can give it a try."
"So, you're not surprised that my product is selling like hotcakes?"
"Using inflated sales figures to launder money?" Although Elena never leaves her home, she guards tens of millions of dollars in her family's underground assets. She is also secretly researching how to launder this shady money.
Money laundering theories aren't difficult; you can find plenty of information online. The challenge lies in accumulating experience.
You'll never know what unexpected situations might arise during money laundering if you don't get involved yourself. Every unexpected situation could lead to catastrophic consequences, not just financial losses, but also ending up in jail.
"That's right!" Li Xiang deliberately praised Elena and continued, "I plan to use e-commerce to sell U-Love Beauty cosmetics."
"For offline retail, tax authorities can send people to stake out the store and estimate your sales by observing the daily customer flow."
"It's even easier to check if it's wholesale, since we deal with big clients, and the accounts on both sides have to match."
"E-commerce is different."
"There are in-store pickup, online payment, and cash on delivery. My item shows as sold online, but how do I verify whether it has actually been sold? Do I have to knock on every single door for thousands of orders? That would require traveling all over Russia."
"This is only the case when it involves the local market. If we add the surrounding markets such as Belarus, Ukraine, Crimea, and the five Central Asian countries, it will be even more complicated."
"How do I check?"
Li Xiang remained silent for a long time after posing the question, until Elena finally replied, "I guess there's no way to answer?"
Li Xiang smiled slightly and said, "U-Love-Me is an imported brand. It doesn't have a domestic production line in Russia. The tax authorities can use import data to estimate the actual sales situation."
"As long as the import data and sales data are generally consistent and the losses are within a reasonable range, there shouldn't be any major problems based on the data."
"As for the goods I declared and shipped in, whether they were actually sold, stored in a warehouse, or even buried, Russia is so big, how would anyone know?"
"I can do whatever I want with this business. I caught the wave of monetizing pirated traffic. My products sell well. I dare not say more, but as long as I can get things going, making 20 to 30 million US dollars a year is not a problem."
Li Xiang's words cannot be entirely trusted, but Elena was indeed somewhat tempted.
"Is it still the same as before, no handling fee?"
"That depends on how long you're willing to give me," Li Xiang said, making excuses. "The post office holds the payment for goods for at least six months. If they don't pay me, I can't pay you."
Elena raised the corners of her mouth slightly and said slowly, "Accounts receivable can be cashed out."
Li Xiang looked surprised, not expecting Elena to know so much. "It's possible, but that comes at a cost."
"Three-month payment period, 5% discount. I'll give you 30 million rubles upfront. Once you've laundered this money and deposited it into the account I designate, I'll give you the next batch."
Li Xiang emphasized, "I'm helping you out with my own money."
"I know the going rate. Transferring assets and money laundering will cost at least 30%. Andrei and I will remember your contributions to this family." Elena placed her hand on Li Xiang's shoulder and promised, "We'll always be family."
Li Xiang stared intently at Elena's face; looking up was inappropriate, and looking down was even more inappropriate.
Elena withdrew her hand and sat up straight, smiling at Li Xiang. "I'm Natasha's stepmother. I can pretend I don't see what you do outside. But Andrei only has Natasha as his daughter. I don't know if he'll have any objections to your philandering after he gets out of prison."
"Just a friendly reminder, don't mistreat Natasha. What if even she complains about you..."
At this point, Elena suddenly beckoned her dog over.
"Its name is Lucky. It was spayed by Andrei because it peed all over the house when it was in heat and got Natasha's shoes dirty. After that, it calmed down, and look how obedient it is now."
Li Xiang felt a chill in his crotch; Dalia had said something similar.
"Scared?" Elena smiled slightly and continued, "Every family has its rules. As long as Natasha approves of you and the vast majority of people support you, even if Andrei dislikes you, he can only vent his anger on the dog."
"I can't make any promises for Dalia, but as long as you do things right, this vote in my hand will always be yours, anytime, anywhere."